Disabled people to help run new Harrogate cafe

A new cafe will open in Harrogate next month to help people with disabilities learn skills and get into the job market.

Artizan International will open the South-American themed cafe in the former Game unit on Cambridge Road, just around the corner from its shop on Oxford Street.

The charity has taken on a large space set over three floors. The ground floor will be the main cafe and craft area, the first floor will have more cafe seating and the second floor will be for offices and storage.

With such a big space, the cafe will be run by four to six staff and volunteers who are there to support up to four adults with disabilities.

When it opens the cafe will serve its speciality of Peruvian hot chocolate. All of its coffee, tea and sugar will come from Fairtrade sources. It will also stock a range of soups, paninis and cakes.

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Susie Hart, who founded Artizan International, told the Stray Ferret why she wanted to invest in the cafe:

“We are going to be training young adults. The idea is they get training here and get to a level of proficiency where we could then help them find work in other cafes in town.

“At the minute everybody in the hospitality industry is desperate for workers. Meanwhile there are loads of young people with disabilities who would love to have a job in a local business.

“It really could be a win-win for those who want the work and those who need the workers, it is a really exciting time for the charity.”

Ms Hart was originally planning to replicate the success of cafes she ran in Tanzania which were staffed by deaf people.

She worked with North Yorkshire County Council and found that local deaf people were managing to find work.

However, she found out that there were “countless” young people with other disabilities on the council’s records looking for practical training, work experience and employment.

Artizan International is looking for more volunteers to join the team and help run the cafe, which will be open Monday to Saturdays from 9am to 5pm.

Are you interested? Send an email to Sarah Davis by clicking or tapping here. Alternatively call 01423 561556 more more information.

Specialist paramedics rescue woman who fell in Harrogate woods

Specialist paramedics rescued a woman who had fallen and injured herself in a Harrogate woodland.

Two Hazardous Area Response Teams (HART) and a regular ambulance team attended reports of a fall at 11am just off Oak Beck Road, close to the retail park.

On arrival the paramedics secured the area and managed to get the patient out of the woods and into the ambulance.

The paramedics then took her to Harrogate District Hospital for treatment. It is unclear at this time what level of injuries the woman sustained.

A spokesperson for the Yorkshire Ambulance Service said:

“We received an emergency call at 11.01am this morning to reports of a female who had fallen in the woods behind the retail park on Oak Beck Road in Harrogate.

“We dispatched an ambulance and the Hazardous Area Response Team to the scene and one patient was conveyed to Harrogate Hospital.”

The HART teams provide care to people in a hazardous environment that would otherwise be beyond the reach of NHS care.

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New digital and tech office space to open in Harrogate

A new £500,000 office space dedicated to digital and technology firms in Harrogate is set to open next month.

Springfield House, which is directly above Harrogate Convention Centre on King’s Road, has been refurbished since Harrogate Borough Council staff left the premises in 2017.

The authority secured £540,000 of funding from the Leeds City Business Rates Pool to fund the project.

Known as Co-Lab, the offices feature 10 serviced offices with desk space for up to 10 people, high-speed broadband, a lounge and kitchen, meeting rooms and showers.

Tenants will also have access to information about issues such as funding and investment, supply chains and talent recruitment.

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Alistair Forbes, Harrogate Borough Council’s in-house growth manager who will support businesses at Co-Lab, said: 

“Over the last few years, we’ve lost count of the number of people who have asked us ‘are there any co-working or incubator office spaces in Harrogate?’.

“This got us thinking; we needed to find a way to meet this demand and it needed to be dedicated to digital, creative and tech businesses who really need this type of space.

“Co-Lab will be focussed on digital and tech businesses, but we are inviting anyone interested in collaborating with the business community to talk to us. From designers, to hardware specialists, technologists, marketers and developers, our aim is that everyone works together to help our community become more successful.”

Businesses wishing to join Co-Lab will ideally need to be in the digital and creative industries business sector.

This includes fintech, augmented reality and virtual reality, digital health, film and animation production, music, digital content creation and management, immersive technology and content, publishing, cyber security, data, gaming, or product design.

For more details email hello@harrogateco-lab.co.uk or visit: www.harrogateco-lab.co.uk.

Hunt to find family of dead Harrogate man

Police are appealing for help tracing the family of a Harrogate man who was found dead at home last week.

Michael ingleton, 64, died at Harewood Road.

North Yorkshire Police said today it it had been asked by the coroner’s office to help locate his next of kin.

It said in a statement:

“His death is not thought to be suspicious.

“If you knew Mr Ingleton and have any information that would help the coroner to locate any members of Mr Ingleton’s family please email
coroner@northyorkshire.police.uk.”

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Harrogate school to honour former student who made running history

A school in Harrogate is to honour a former pupil who became the first woman to run a mile in under five minutes.

Diane Leather, who attended Harrogate Ladies’ College, made history on May 29 1954 in Birmingham when she ran a mile in 4 minutes and 59.6 seconds.

She only received a fraction of the acclaim given to Roger Bannister when he ran the first sub-four-minute mile 23 days earlier.

Her former school plans to establish an award for promising female runners in recognition of her extraordinary feat.

Sylvia Brett, the principal of the college, said:

“Diane was a pioneer and an amazing athlete. We’re determined her legacy for female athletes won’t be forgotten, and we hope the new award will help others achieve their dreams.”

The school intends to establish the award for athletes as part of its annual Speech Day.

Inspired by the Olympics

Staffordshire-born Diane attended Harrogate Ladies’ College between 1943 and 1951 and enjoyed all sports, particularly netball and lacrosse, but her running ability marked her out from a young age.

She trained as a chemist and joined her local athletics club, Birchfield Harriers, after watching the Helsinki Olympics in 1952.

The following year she set a women’s ‘best’ for running a mile in 5 minutes and 2.6 seconds. After she broke the record she recorded another two sub-five-minute miles by running 4 minutes 50.8 seconds and 4 minutes 45 second.

It wasn’t for another 13 years until after she set the ‘best’ time that the International Amateur Athletics Federation, now known as World Athletics, recognised women’s world records for the mile. Unfounded medical concerns meant women were banned from the Olympic marathon until 1984 and only began ski jumping at the Winter Olympics in 2014.

Diane held the record for eight years. She also held the British 1500m record for 11 years.

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She competed at the 1960 Rome Olympic Games as Diane Charles, running in a preliminary heat in the 800m. Later that year she retired from competitive running, aged 27, and in 1961 gave birth to her first child.

Ms Leather died in 2018 aged 85 after working in social work and caring for her four children in her later life.

In 2015, on the 60th anniversary of her record, she said:

“I had no idea that I would ever be called a pioneer.”

 

 

First Harrogate Christmas Fayre set to showcase local charities

The new Harrogate Christmas Fayre is set to showcase local charities when the festive market comes to town next month.

Organisers Market Place Europe have set aside a stall for 10 charities, which they can use to raise awareness and fundraise.

Across the 10 days, Samaritans of Harrogate and District, Harrogate Town AFC Community Foundation, Bilton and Woodfield Community Library, Dementia Forward, Harrogate Skills 4 Living Centre, Harrogate Easier Living Project, Citizens Advice Craven and Harrogate Districts, Harrogate International Festivals, Harrogate Hospital and Community Charity and Horticap will also use the stall.

A press release today by Harrogate Borough Council, which is organising the event in partnership with Market Place Europe, said the charities ‘were identified through the council’s Local Lotto initiative’, which conducts weekly prize draws that generate money for local charities.

Nick Rhodes, chief executive of Market Place Europe, said:

“Almost 50 coach companies are set to arrive across the 10 days, along with the thousands of Harrogate district residents and regional visitors, so it is anticipated that traders, local businesses and charities are going to benefit from the additional footfall the fayre will bring.”

The organisers hope the stall will help fill the void left by the original Harrogate Christmas Market on Montpellier Hill, which over the last five events contributed more than £90,000 to local charities.

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Gemma Rio, Harrogate Borough Council’s head of destination management, said:

“There is a lot of excitement building for the market, and we are anticipating thousands of people visiting Harrogate this festive period, so I’d like to thank Market Place Europe for donating a stall that will no doubt raise the profile of local charities and The Local Lotto.”

Location and dates for new Harrogate Christmas Fayre

The Harrogate Christmas Fayre will feature around 50 stallholders on Cambridge Street, Market Place, Station Square and Cambridge Crescent.. They will be spaced out wider than usual to encourage social distancing.

New Harrogate cocktail bar given go-ahead

A new cocktail bar is set to open in Harrogate town centre.

Harrogate Borough Council has approved plans for the former Moss Bros clothes shop on Parliament Street to be converted into a bar.

Owners of Leeds-based cocktail bar, Roland’s, submitted the proposal along with a licence application to open from Monday to Sunday from 10am until 2.30am.

Roland’s website says it serves up “exceptional drinks, great music and a good time”. The Leeds bar opened in 2014 and is situated at 39 Call Lane, one of the most popular streets in the city for nightlife.

ELG Planning, which lodged the proposal on behalf of Roland’s, said in documents submitted to the council that the move was an opportunity for the bar to expand its business.

It said:

“The unit on Parliament Street, Harrogate provides the best opportunity for our client to expand their existing business Roland’s.

“The client has been looking for suitable premises for a long period and due to a combination of the location and size the application site is suited to their operational needs.

“They have considered a number of locations in the last five years to provide a similar facility in Harrogate to that already trading in Leeds.”

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The new bar would be the latest addition to Parliament Street’s nightlife scene, which includes the Harrogate Arms, Revolución de Cuba, Mojo, Wetherspoons and the Viper Rooms.

The Ginnel hosts bars Montey’s and Major Tom’s Social.

Some venues on Parliament Street have struggled to survive in recent years, including Jamie’s Italian, Wagyu Bar and Grill and The Restaurant Bar and Grill, which all closed.

Your guide to Harrogate’s three Christmas markets

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas…So, with a few changes to the plans this year, we have compiled this guide of everything you need to know about Harrogate’s Christmas markets.

After the loss of the original Harrogate Christmas Market, the festive offering has splintered into three markets.

While some of the original stalls will be at the newly-refurbished Crimple Hall at the end of November, new stall holders will be at events across the town centre and Valley Gardens in December.

Harrogate Christmas Fayre across the town centre

Market Place Europe is taking on the main event in Harrogate but rather than Montpellier Hill this new Harrogate Christmas Fayre will take place across the town centre.

There will be a mixture of local and European stallholders on Cambridge Street, Market Place, Station Square and Cambridge Crescent.

The Harrogate Christmas Fayre will feature around 50 traders spaced out wider than usual to try to encourage social distancing.

Rather than the usual four-day market, the Market Place Europe event will take place over a week from December 3 until December 12.

Market Place Europe is behind the Harrogate Christmas Fayre.

Christmas Market Weekend at Crimple Hall

Brian Dunsby, co-organiser of Harrogate Christmas Market, has worked with some of the stallholders who were planning to go to his cancelled event to get them at a new venue.

Crimple Hall will hold the Christmas Market Weekend, which will feature more than 20 food and craft stalls.

There will also be plenty of children’s activities, a festive animal farm, face painting, treasure trails, wreath making demonstration and live music.

The Christmas Market at Crimple Hall will be held on November 27 and 28, from 8am to 7pm on the Saturday and 10am to 4pm on the Sunday.

There will be a festive offering at the new Crimple Hall.

Artisan Christmas market in Valley Gardens

Little Bird Made, which has made a name for itself across North Yorkshire with its artisan markets, is set to hold a festive version of its market in Valley Gardens.

More than 60 local traders and producers will sell a variety of festive arts and crafts, clothing, homeware, jewellery, as well as locally produced food and drink.

This is a new addition to the town called Artisan Festive Market, with the organisers working with Harrogate Borough Council.

It will be held on the weekend of December 4 and 5 between 10am and 3pm.

The Artisan Festive Market will be held in Harrogate's Valley Gardens.

The Artisan Festive Market will be held in Harrogate’s Valley Gardens.

Stray Views: Scrap the Station Gateway in its current form

Stray Views is a weekly column giving you the chance to have your say on issues affecting the Harrogate district. It is an opinion column and does not reflect the views of the Stray Ferret. Send your views to letters@thestrayferret.co.uk.

Scrap the Station Gateway

The Station Gateway project should be scrapped entirely in its present form even if this means losing out on the current funding. The current proposal is a highway engineer’s solution to a problem that simply does not focus on the important issues from an holistic point of view.

It is ‘pocket planning’ and requires an urban design-led concept which addresses all concerns, operating less on the imposed ‘we know best’ principle by the project leaders, and more on engagement with all sectors, especially those who care and whose livelihoods depend on Harrogate.

It needs to be a replacement vision with the real support of the businesses and people of our town. It needs to be one which above all addresses the problem of through traffic and the serious consideration of a park and ride service. Until this happens there is no successful considered alternative solution to Harrogate’s problems

A replacement funding stream is likely to materialise for a replacement vision and one which has the real support of the businesses and people of Harrogate. Once again, as with the Otley Road cycle route, the current proposal is another case of ‘putting the cart before the horse’. In other words, ‘grab the money while we can and then, oh, what shall we do with it?’ without having any masterplan in place.

If the current leadership is not capable of accepting this then I consider we, the citizens of Harrogate, should call for a vote of no confidence in the current project leadership. This could be arranged through an online petition.

Barry Adams, Harrogate

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Harrogate should have had a bypass

This multi-million pound moving of the deckchairs around the Titanic will only serve as a timely reminder of the dismal failure to deliver a bypass (ably aided and abetted by our member of parliament) and the absurd notion that 95% of Harrogate’s traffic is “local”. Never mind, the Skipton and Wetherby roads can cope, as ever.

Nick Hudson, The Saints, Harrogate

Do you have an opinion on the Harrogate district? Email us at letters@thestrayferret.co.uk. Please include your name and approximate location details. Limit your letters to 350 words. We reserve the right to edit letters.

 

Green Shoots: The Harrogate wind farm that powers 8,000 homes

COP26 has made it crystal clear that time is running out for the world to shift away from polluting fossil fuels and towards green energy.

Knabbs Ridge Wind Farm on the outskirts of Harrogate on Pennypot Lane. It’s the only large commercial wind farm in the district and is at the forefront of tackling climate change locally.

Its eight turbines, which have mammoth 35m long blades, power around 8,000 homes with renewable energy.

The wind farm is owned by German energy firm RWE Renewables, and the Stray Ferret spoke with its site manager, Richard Couzens, about how Knabbs Ridge works and why it is so important.

Energy generation

Knabbs Ridge is designed to operate unmanned and includes complex computer systems that ensure the turbines run as optimally as possible.

It’s maintained twice a year by engineers, which Mr Couzens described as being similar to servicing a car.

There’s a weather station on every turbine, which will move to tell the systems which direction the wind is coming from.

Each turbine can generate up to two megawatts of power, which at full capacity would mean the wind farm could power the equivalent of 32,000 homes.

There may be times when you drive past Knabbs Ridge and the turbines are not turning, even on a windy day. Critics of wind energy say they are inefficient compared to other forms of energy generation.

This year 7% of the country’s energy mix came from wind, a steep drop from 2020 when it generated 25%.

Mr Couzens said Knabbs Ridge generates around 30% of its total capacity, which he said is normal for an on-shore wind farm.

“Wind turbines don’t run at full capacity so it’s naive to think we can think it will get the full two megawatts [per turbine] 365 days a year. Realistically that’s not going to happen.

Turbines move when the wind speed is between four metres a second and 25 metres a second.

“Turbines have an operating window where they can generate power. They don’t run unnecessarily when wind speed isn’t running and they protect themselves when the wind is too strong as it can cause damage to internal components.

“There are occasions when the wind is too low, even if it feels theres a breeze, if wind speed is not up to four metres a second for 10 minutes, the turbines will remain idle until wind picks up.”

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Part of the landscape

Knabbs Ridge became operational in 2008 following a bitter battle with residents and Harrogate Borough Council who refused the plans in 2005.

The decision was overturned by the government’s planning inspector who said the wind farm’s green benefits outweighed its visual impact.

At the time, current Harrogate Borough Council leader and then cabinet member for planning Richard Cooper said the decision “flied in the face of common sense”.

But back then the energy mix was still dominated by coal and the climate crisis was not a mainstream concern. Cllr Cooper has since become one of the council’s biggest proponents of green infrastructure, highlighting how attitudes towards wind farms have changed over the last 15 years.

Knabbs Ridge from Beckwithshaw

Knabbs Ridge is now largely an accepted, and for some, admired, part of the rural landscape.

Mr Couzens said:

“I can see why some people want them out at sea, but there’s a great cost. For us a business it’s about balancing cost versus convenience on shore and making sure that balance is done sympathetically.

“Younger children come up and express their opinion on wind turbines, they are not seen as the blot on the landscape as they were seen in the early days.”

Subsidies scrapped

Since Knabbs Ridge was approved, no other large wind farm has been granted planning permission in the Harrogate district.

In 2015 an application to approve a wind farm overlooking Almscliffe Crag was refused by HBC.

Then in 2016, David Cameron’s government announced subsidies for on-shore wind farms would be scrapped, which has seen a sharp fall in new sites across the UK.

Mr Couzens hopes COP26 will help see wind power back on the agenda.

“The construction and development of [wind farms] is ongoing. It’s not ground to a halt, there’s been a reduction in the amount of windfarms, it’s potentially being driven by government incentives.

“I would like to think something meaningful will come out of COP26. Let’s keep our fingers crossed.”